HARRISBURG – With a major union contract at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) set to expire at the end of the week, Rep. Kate Harper (R-Montgomery) is reintroducing legislation to prohibit SEPTA employees from going on strike.

“The mass transit system is absolutely vital to the Philadelphia region, and to the millions of people who rely upon it to get to and from work, school, appointments and errands every day,” Harper said. “We simply cannot afford a repeat of the 2009 strike, which occurred with no notice and left people stranded.

It was following that six-day strike, which began at 3 a.m. one night in November 2009, that Harper first introduced the measure to prohibit SEPTA strikes.

Specifically, House Bill 2109 would ban strikes by workers at SEPTA by adding them to a list of public employees already prohibited from striking, including guards at prisons or mental hospitals, or employees directly involved with and necessary to the functioning of the courts of this Commonwealth.

The bill does not require SEPTA to engage in binding arbitration.

SEPTA’s contract with Transport Workers Union Local 234 covers about 4,700 of its employees, or about half of its workforce. Contracts with several other unions that cover suburban maintenance and clerical employees, mechanics and bus drivers are set to expire next month.